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Host: Marie

Beirut, Lebanon

USD
$36-$100 per person

Learn to cook traditional Lebanese cuisine with a contemporary twist

Host offerings
  • Apartment
  • Home cook
  • Pets
  • Vegetarian
  • Alcohol
  • Transportation
  • Cooking class
  • Market visit
  • Food tour

Meet Marie

Marie taught herself to cook and has been cooking since she was 10 years old. She now has over three decades of experience cooking traditional Lebanese food for her family and friends. Cooking is one of Marie’s biggest passions and she is excited to share her culinary traditions with guests. Marie’s children Sarah and Jad love their mother’s cooking. In fact, Jad has inherited his mother's cooking skills and enjoys cooking with her in the kitchen. Marie believes that Lebanese cuisine is passed down from generation to generation and it promotes values such as friendship, good relationships and family. Marie says, “you will always feel welcome at the Lebanese table!”

What to expect

Please note menu might vary. If there are particular dishes you are interested in trying, please include your request in the booking form.

In-home meal: (1-5 guests) Marie lives in a modern, minimalist apartment in a suburb of Beirut, with beautiful views of the river and roman vestiges. Her apartment is about 7km from downtown Beirut. Marie cooks a variety of traditional home-cooked Lebanese dishes from stuffed wine leaves to rice-based dishes to Lebanese mezzes. You will begin your experience with a welcome drink and a mezze spread of tabbouleh, humus, baba ganoush, fried meatballs with burgul and a garlic lemon dip. For the main, you might be served chicken, fish or meat served the traditional way with rice or potatoes topped with roasted seeds. Your meal concludes with Lebanese coffee or tea and sfouf, a Lebanese tea cake or a pistachio, date or walnut shortbread infused with orange blossom water.

Cooking experience: (1-5 guests) Join Marie in her small kitchen for your cooking class and learn to make 2-3 authentic Lebanese dishes. During your 1.5 hour class, help Marie prepare from scratch a baba ganoush appetizer, fried meatball main and a pistachio shortbread dessert. Enjoy the meal you helped prepare at her dining table after your cooking experience.

Market visit: (1-5 guests) Marie will drive you 15 minutes to an organic grocery shop near her apartment. Please note that this is not a typical market tour to a central bazaar but a shopping trip to the neighborhood store where locals shop. Marie buys all her local, seasonal and fresh produce and ingredients at this store. Join her to learn about local produce and purchase together a few ingredients for your cooking class.

Notes: Please note that Marie can offer vegetarian, gluten free and halal meals on request. On occasion, Marie will be joined by her daughter Sarah, son Jad, neighbor Samira and friend Joyce.

Languages spoken: English, French, Arabic

Sample menu

This is just a sample menu to give you an idea of the types of dishes the host cooks. Your menu will vary according to seasonal availability.
  • Welcome drink
  • Starter 1: Tabbouleh or fattoush salad
  • Starter 2: Hummus or baba ganoush
  • Main Dish: Chicken or fish with rice or potato with oriental spices or moghrabiyeh (couscous) with chicken or meat. .
  • Dessert: Shortbread
  • Coffee or tea with fresh fruit
PERSONALLY VETTED REVIEW
A Traveling Spoon ambassador visited this host. Here is their personal review.

Marie is very sweet and having her girlfriends around made the experience more interesting and entertaining. Everything I ate was very tasty and the mix of spices in the chicken and rice was perfectly balanced and a joy to the taste buds. It was also lovely to prepare the pistachio shortbread with Marie, they were delicious. Marie’s version of the pistachio shortbread is like little jewelry to the eye and mouth, perfect combination of flavours.

May, Traveling Spoon Ambassador

Traveler reviews

5.0 (1)
Cooking class with Marie. I am spending four weeks alone in Lebanon and wanted to learn how to cook lebanese food. So I booked an evening with Marie. She welcomed me very warmly to her home. We cooked together Tabouleh, Baba Ghanoush, Hummus and a dish with rice and fish (I don’t remember the name) and for dessert we baked traditional sweets with dates. After cooking we had dinner with two friends of Marie‘s and her daughter. The food was delicious and Marie and her friends were very kind. I enjoyed the evening very much and recommend the experience to anyone.
- Cantfindanick February 12, 2020
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Marie

$36-$100 USD

per person
100% VETTED
Learn more
  • 100% satisfaction guarantee or your money back
  • Credit card is not charged until the host confirms your booking
  • Private experience
Pricing (per person)*
1 person 2-4 ppl 5+ people
In-Home Meal
 $58 $42 $36
Cooking Experience + Meal
 $72 $58 $42
Market Tour+ Cooking Experience + Meal
 $100 $86 $72
Alcohol
 $8 per person
Transportation
 $40 per car
*Does not include 3% payment processing fee applied at checkout.
1 person 2-4 ppl 5+ people
In-Home Meal
 $58 $42 $36
Cooking Experience + Meal
 $72 $58 $42
Market Tour+ Cooking Experience + Meal
 $100 $86 $72
Alcohol
 $8 per person
Transportation
 $40 per car
*Does not include 3% payment processing fee applied at checkout.
Experience Timings
 Lunch Dinner
In-Home Meal
 1:30pm-4:30pm 6:00pm-9:00pm
Cooking Experience+ Meal
 12:00pm-5:00pm 5:00pm-10:00pm
Market Tour+ Cooking Experience + Meal
 11:00am-5:00pm 4:00pm-10:00pm

Meet Marie

Marie taught herself to cook and has been cooking since she was 10 years old. She now has over three decades of experience cooking traditional Lebanese food for her family and friends. Cooking is one of Marie’s biggest passions and she is excited to share her culinary traditions with guests. Marie’s children Sarah and Jad love their mother’s cooking. In fact, Jad has inherited his mother's cooking skills and enjoys cooking with her in the kitchen. Marie believes that Lebanese cuisine is passed down from generation to generation and it promotes values such as friendship, good relationships and family. Marie says, “you will always feel welcome at the Lebanese table!”

What to expect

Please note menu might vary. If there are particular dishes you are interested in trying, please include your request in the booking form.

In-home meal: (1-5 guests) Marie lives in a modern, minimalist apartment in a suburb of Beirut, with beautiful views of the river and roman vestiges. Her apartment is about 7km from downtown Beirut. Marie cooks a variety of traditional home-cooked Lebanese dishes from stuffed wine leaves to rice-based dishes to Lebanese mezzes. You will begin your experience with a welcome drink and a mezze spread of tabbouleh, humus, baba ganoush, fried meatballs with burgul and a garlic lemon dip. For the main, you might be served chicken, fish or meat served the traditional way with rice or potatoes topped with roasted seeds. Your meal concludes with Lebanese coffee or tea and sfouf, a Lebanese tea cake or a pistachio, date or walnut shortbread infused with orange blossom water.

Cooking experience: (1-5 guests) Join Marie in her small kitchen for your cooking class and learn to make 2-3 authentic Lebanese dishes. During your 1.5 hour class, help Marie prepare from scratch a baba ganoush appetizer, fried meatball main and a pistachio shortbread dessert. Enjoy the meal you helped prepare at her dining table after your cooking experience.

Market visit: (1-5 guests) Marie will drive you 15 minutes to an organic grocery shop near her apartment. Please note that this is not a typical market tour to a central bazaar but a shopping trip to the neighborhood store where locals shop. Marie buys all her local, seasonal and fresh produce and ingredients at this store. Join her to learn about local produce and purchase together a few ingredients for your cooking class.

Notes: Please note that Marie can offer vegetarian, gluten free and halal meals on request. On occasion, Marie will be joined by her daughter Sarah, son Jad, neighbor Samira and friend Joyce.

Languages spoken: English, French, Arabic

Sample menu

This is just a sample menu to give you an idea of the types of dishes the host cooks. Your menu will vary according to seasonal availability.
  • Welcome drink
  • Starter 1: Tabbouleh or fattoush salad
  • Starter 2: Hummus or baba ganoush
  • Main Dish: Chicken or fish with rice or potato with oriental spices or moghrabiyeh (couscous) with chicken or meat. .
  • Dessert: Shortbread
  • Coffee or tea with fresh fruit
PERSONALLY VETTED REVIEW
A Traveling Spoon ambassador visited this host. Here is their personal review.

Marie is very sweet and having her girlfriends around made the experience more interesting and entertaining. Everything I ate was very tasty and the mix of spices in the chicken and rice was perfectly balanced and a joy to the taste buds. It was also lovely to prepare the pistachio shortbread with Marie, they were delicious. Marie’s version of the pistachio shortbread is like little jewelry to the eye and mouth, perfect combination of flavours.

May, Traveling Spoon Ambassador

Traveler reviews

5.0 (1)
Cooking class with Marie. I am spending four weeks alone in Lebanon and wanted to learn how to cook lebanese food. So I booked an evening with Marie. She welcomed me very warmly to her home. We cooked together Tabouleh, Baba Ghanoush, Hummus and a dish with rice and fish (I don’t remember the name) and for dessert we baked traditional sweets with dates. After cooking we had dinner with two friends of Marie‘s and her daughter. The food was delicious and Marie and her friends were very kind. I enjoyed the evening very much and recommend the experience to anyone.
- Cantfindanick February 12, 2020
Pricing (per person)*
1 person 2-4 ppl 5+ people
In-Home Meal
 $58 $42 $36
Cooking Experience + Meal
 $72 $58 $42
Market Tour+ Cooking Experience + Meal
 $100 $86 $72
Alcohol
 $8 per person
Transportation
 $40 per car
*Does not include 3% payment processing fee applied at checkout.
1 person 2-4 ppl 5+ people
In-Home Meal
 $58 $42 $36
Cooking Experience + Meal
 $72 $58 $42
Market Tour+ Cooking Experience + Meal
 $100 $86 $72
Alcohol
 $8 per person
Transportation
 $40 per car
*Does not include 3% payment processing fee applied at checkout.
Experience Timings
 Lunch Dinner
In-Home Meal
 1:30pm-4:30pm 6:00pm-9:00pm
Cooking Experience+ Meal
 12:00pm-5:00pm 5:00pm-10:00pm
Market Tour+ Cooking Experience + Meal
 11:00am-5:00pm 4:00pm-10:00pm
ABOUT TRAVELING SPOON

Traveling Spoon connects you with meaningful culinary experiences, from private cooking lessons to homecooked meals in people's homes. Enjoy an immersive cultural experience that gives you a glimpse into the local way of life.

FAQ

    You can cancel your reservation up until 48 hours before your experience for a full refund minus a 3% processing fee. Experiences within 48 hours are not refundable.

    If you have a question for your host, you can include a note in the field "Write a note to your host" during the booking process. Once your booking is confirmed, you will be emailed your host's direct contact information and you will also be able to message the host through your profile. You can always cancel your booking and receive a full refund 48 hours or more before your experience. If you have other questions you can also email us at reservations@travelingspoon.com.

    Most of our hosts are able to accommodate dietary restrictions and allergies, including vegetarian and gluten free options. For vegetarian travelers, we have an icon on each host profile to indicate whether that host can also offer a fully vegetarian menu. There is a section in the booking form to note any allergies or dietary restrictions which will be sent directly to your host.

    Some hosts offer alcohol as an optional add-on for travelers who are of legal drinking age. Pricing for alcohol is visible on the host profile page and includes one to two glasses of wine, beer or local alcohol.

    Have a flight or other tour planned and can’t make the timing provided? If the timing listed on the host’s profile doesn’t work for you, our hosts can often accommodate timing changes. Because all of our experiences are private our hosts are happy to tailor experiences to meet your travel needs. Simply note your request in the booking process.

    Your card will not be charged until your host accepts your booking. Typically hosts respond to bookings within 72 hours. In the event your host is unavailable on your selected date and your host rejects your booking your credit card will not be charged.

    Your host's detailed contact information, including their phone number, address, and direction notes, will all be provided immediately upon successful confirmation of your experience (after your hosts accepts your booking and your credit card is successfully processed). This information will be emailed to you to the email address you used to sign up, and will also be visible on your Traveling Spoon profile.

    All prices are noted per person prices unless otherwise specified. Transportation is typically charged on a per car basis. Children aged 5-11 are 50% off, and infants aged 0-4 are free. Hosts set their own prices and Traveling Spoon marks up the experiences; on average hosts receive over 70% of the price paid by the traveler.

    100% of Traveling Spoon experiences are private! Just you and your host and host’s family.

    Hosts typically respond to booking inquiries within 72 hours. If for some reason you have not heard from your host or if you have any questions you can always contact us at reservations@travelingspoon.com.

    Your safety and security are our top priority. To ensure this, Traveling Spoon personally vets 100% of all hosts, including an in-person host visit, to ensure each host and experience meets our strict quality requirements.

    Some hosts offer transportation as an optional add-on for travelers. Typically this is round trip transportation with pick up and drop off at your hotel. Pricing is quoted per car. Specific instructions for transportation will be provided in your confirmation details when your booking is confirmed.

    Many of our hosts accommodate solo travelers. You can see if a host accepts solo travelers by looking at the traveler range found next to the experience descriptions on the host profile (indicated by the numbers in parentheses next to "In-home meal", "Cooking experience" and "Market visit").

    Most of our Traveling Spoon experiences are incredibly family friendly and can accommodate infants and children. If a host is unable to accommodate children that will be noted in the “Notes” section of their profile. Our child pricing policy is children aged 5-11 are 50% off, and infants aged 0-4 are free.